jones



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. T. J. JONES.

l v VOLTAIC BATTERY.

" Patented Peb, 22, 1887.

Tail??? Nan@ /Nr/E/vmn "By ma fdfiwff Arron/vnf 2 sheets-sheet 2.

(No Mqdel.)

T. J. JONES.

VOLTAIG BATTERY.

Patented Feb. 22, 1887.

UNITED STATES THOMAS JOnN JONES,'OE

PATENT @Erica 2 raisons STREET, HANOVEE'SQUAEE, COUNTY OEMIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOE To THE PRIMARY BATTERY COM#k rANY, (LIMITED.) or SAME PLAGE.

voLTAic BATTERY.

SPECIFICATION forming para of Letters Patent No. 358,120, dated February 22, 1887. -Application iilcd April 2l, IQFG. Serial No. 200,005. (No model.) Patented in England May Q0, 18H5, No. 6,555, and in France Octoberl, 1885, No. 171,599.

To all whom it may concern.-

v13e it known that I, .THOMAS JOHN JONES, of 12 Princes Street, Hanover Square, in the county of Middlesex, England, electrician, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements in Voltaic Batteries; and I do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, and iu what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, and for which I have obtained Letters Patent in England, No. 6,555, dated May 20, 1885, and in France, No. 171,599, dated October 10, 1885.

My invention relates to improvementsA in primary and secondary batteries, being more particularly designed forthe negative elements of -lead batteries.

The object of my invention is to produce' a voltaic battery free from liability, at those points where the active material makes con ltact withthe conductor, to local action and consequent disintegration, and of comparatively inexpensive construction.

My invention consists in making th ose parts of a battery which serve to support and make contact with the active material of an insulating inoxidizable (or but slightly oxidizable) material, inembedding therein a conductor, and 1n putting the conductor into electrical connection with the active material of the element at several points by the. intervention of gold or platinum, applied in such a way that I obtain all or nearly all the obvious advantages; as regards eiciency, of a support con structed wholly of these precious metals. I obtain these .advantages'at a tithe of the ex g pense which has alone hitherto rendered the employment of these metals in the construc- 40 tion of voltaic batteries commercially impracticable. I

The partsofthe battery to which my invention applies are those which serve for the supportof'the active materialen situ and for con,-

4 5 ducting the current, (whether such su pports are constituted byfraines or other structures placedloose Within the cell, or by the walls of the cell itsel) and also those, such` as the bindingpieces, terminals, or clamps, (whether 'integral with or made separate from the element,) 5o which' are used for making contact with the active material or element for the purpose of coupling up the different element-s of the battery.

In carrying out my invention I employ as 5 5 the insulating, inoxidizable, or but slightly oxidizable material india-rubber, gutta-percha, Xylonite, Celluloid, parkesine,and thelike, or compounds containing these substances, 1 and as the conductor I use Wires or strips of 6o a base metalsuch as copper (or an alloy thereof) or other forms of conductive material-Which I e'mbediu theinsulating material, the connection between the conductor and the active material being made, preferably, by 6 5 leaving uncovered by the insulating material numerous relatively minute portions of the conductor, to which portions gold or platinum has been previously applied in the form of a non-porous film, covering, or coating, so as on 7o the one hand to put the conductor into good electrical connection with the active material and on the other hand to ecctually protect the conductor from direct contact either with the active material or the electrolyte, whereby 7 5 the triple contact of the electrolyte, the active material, and. the oxidizable conductor, which would result in the formation of a local couple, is avoided. Theportions ofthe conductorthus protected may either be portions of the main 8o conductor left exposed or small branches in the form of wires orstrips connected to a main conductor and projecting through the inoxidizable Support into or against the active material; or these branches may be of solid platinum or gold instead of being of base metal merely coated or tipped with either of these metals.

The Support may be in the form of a frame, plate, mass, tray, or lattice, or it may be of 9o zigzag, spiral, ,or other form, or iu the form of a tang or tangs, Src., and the platinum or. gold wires, strips, or points by which contact is made with` the active material may (if necessary to increase the area of the conductive surface in cont-act with the active material) be surface of the support, &c.

connected together by a deposit or layer extending over the whole or any portion ofthe In the accompanying drawingsvarious forms of the conductive supports and contact pieces or terminals are represented, the same principle of construction being commen to all. would, however, have it understood that I do not limit myself to the forms illustrated, as they may be modied without departing from my invention. y

Figure 1 shows a face view, partly broken away, and Figs.` 2 and 3 cross-sections on lines 1 1 and 2 2, Fig. 1, of an element having a support consisting of a rectangular frame, a a, of inoxidizable non-conducting material, 'with a conductor, b, embedded therein. rI`he conduetor, which may be a wire or iiat strip of metal or carbon extending around the four sides of the frame, is in electrical contact with small branch wires or strips c, partly embedded in the insulating material a and partly projecting therefrom at the inner sides, so as to penetrate the mass of the active material d, which is packed in the frame a, and, if necessary, supported therein by cross-bars or otherwise. These branch wires are soldered to the conductor b (if the latter is of metal) or otherwise attached. If of base or oxidizable metal, the ends of these branch wires, points, or strips which are tward, or which project into, the active material should be electroplated with gold or platinum to a sueient thickness to form a non-porous inoxidizable coating, which should be continued for a sufticient distance along theirlength to prevent all contact of the active material or the electrolyte with the base metal, or the branch wires may be of solid gold or platinum.

Figs. and 5. show a somewhat similar construction of support, in which the frame of inoxidizable non-conducting material a has cross-bars a2, of the same material, dividing it into smaller compartments,the main conductor b embedded therein extending throughout the main and cross bars of the frame, and platinum or gold wires c being stretched entirely across the compartments of the frame, said wires being attached to the main conductor and in electrical contact therewith and with the active material d.

Fig. 6 shows a face view, on an enlarged scale, of an element having another form of A support, the active material being partly broken away to show the conductive portion. Fig. 7 is a vertical section of the same' element.v The support in this case consists of a net-work of wires lof base metal, b, inter-- woven, as shown, and constituting the main conductor embedded in the inoxidizable nonconducting material a, conductive contactl being established between the active material d and the conductor b by leaving uncovered or by portions b of the conductor b which arenearest to the surface of the insulating-mass, these removing the insulating material from the exposed portions having been previously electroplated or coated with a non-porous iilm, de-y posit, or layer of platinum or gold. This network of wires is in electrical contact at the upper part with a terminal conductor, b1, also embedded in theinsulating material. A The network of wires embedded in the non-conduet ing material is covered on both sides with act ive material. In order to hold the two layers of active material in place, the insulating material is preferably molded with holes a: passing through the interstices-of the meshes and clear of the wiresr into which holes the active material is forced, so as to imite the two layers of active material and key them to the suport. p In Figs. Sand 9 the conductor isin the form of a eorru gated plate or sheet of metal, b,which is embedded in the insulating inoxidizable material a. The tops b of the corrugations are alone left uncovered by the insulating mate` rial, and these portions are coated with platinum or gold, asin the former ease. The plate b has rows of perforations y along the flanks of the eorrugations, through which the insu-- forced, so as to hold the latlating material is ter in close contact with the plate b; or any other means of obtaining this contact may be adopted. The active material may be held against the insulating material by means of undercut grooves inthe latter, into which the active material is keyed.

In the whole of the above examples the ordinary bindngserews are dispensed with, the elements being provided with metallic tangs or projections e, which are formed in one with or are in electrical connection with the embedded Iconductor, and which` are bent down so as to dip into a mercury-trough alongside of the cell. the element being supported in position `in the cell by the projecting portions 0, of the insulating material resting on the two sides of the cell.

In Figs. 10 and 11 there is no conductive support, but only a piece which extends along the upper edge ofthe element and is designed to take the place of the ordinary clamp and bindingserew, and is especially adapted for use with an element composed of an agglomerated mass of active material having no internal support. struction and equivalent to the top bar of the ICO This piece is similar in conframe shownin Fig. 1, with its embedded conduetor b and branch strips c.

Figs. 12, 13, and 14 showA a spring clip, clamp, or terminal for the element, consisting of a metallic strip, b, bent to the proper form and embedded in the insulating material a and furnished with points c, which project from the surface of the gripping-jaws of the clip or clamp and are covered with platinum or gold, and which penetrate and make contact with the active material d. 'In this case the conductive strip is connected to a binding-screw vfor eouplingup, in lieu of the tang dipping into mercury. vIn both these-examples the element should be supported in the cell from below, to prevent it breaking away from the terminal or clamp.

In Figs. and 1 6 the contact-piece consists of a main conducting-wire, b, provided with a number of branches, b', all embedded in insulating i'noxidizable material a, and ramifyingthrough the active material d. To these branches b are attached contact-piecesvc, of

platinum or gold,which arein electrical contact -with the active material and the branches b.

Fig. 17 shows,'in elevatiom'a contactpiece, which also acts as a support for arod or cylindrical mass, d, of active material. Fig. 18 shows a part sectional elevation of a portion of the same, and Fig. 19 a cross-section thereof. It consists of a number of springclips adapted to embraceand makecontact with the said rod or mass, these clips being constructed of 'strlps or branches b', of steel or other base met-al, bent to the proper form and branching from a main conductor, b, of the same metal,4

to `which they `are soldered or otherwise atl tached, and thewhole embedded in insulating material a. The 'branches are provided'with contact-pieces c, of gold or platinum, which are`in electrical contact with, the active material and the branches b. 'f i In- Figs. 20 and 2l each element makes contact along one of its v erticaisidcs with platinum or gold contactpieces c of a conductor, b, embedded in a vertical rib of inoxidizable material molded in one with or fixed to the side of the cell. The elementsA are pressed tightly against the contactsc and fixed in place in the cell by means of 'wedges 1b, of iuoxidizable material, driven in between the elements and the next adjacent rib of the cell. It is advisable to coat the parts of the oxidizable conductor(which are intended to be left uncovered by the inoxidizable material) with thplatinum or gold before embedding the said conductor, and to extend the coating a suiiicient distance so that it will be partly overlapped by the inoxidizable'material, in order to avoid liability ofleaving any part of the oxidizable conductor exposed to the electro- 1 yte, which might occur -if the gold or pla-- tinuin wereapplied after embedding the con-v ductor.

In order to obtain a non-porous layer of gold *or platinum by electro-deposition, it is pre- Alating material may generally be conveniently Ilio perlormed by molding the latter in halves, the

line of division coinciding with the intended position of the-conductor, vand placing the condncto'r between adjacent surfaces of the halves while the latter are plastic, and uniting them by pressure and a solvent, if necessary. In-

all cases to obtain good electrical contact the platinum or goldshould project from the surface ot' the' inoxidizable material.`

. The ,invention is applicable to primary and` also to secondary batteries and to both kinds of elements'thereof.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same isto be performed, I declare that'what I claim isv 1. In a galvanic element, a combined support and current conductor constructed of van insulating and inoxidizable material and of an' oxidizable conductor made of base metal and having gold or platinum locally applied or connected thereto, the. conductor being embedded in the insulating material with the exception-of the gold or platinum portions,

which alone make electrical contact between the elements and the. oxidizable conductor, whereby all contact of the electrolyte or of the active material with the'oxidizable conductor is prevented, as herein speciiied.

2. 'A galvanic element whereof the su pport for the active-material is constructed of a framework of insulating and inoxildizable (or nearly inoxidizable) material having an -oxidizable conductor of base metal lembedded therein, and branch'wires or strips connected to said conductor, said branch wires or strips projecting from the insulating material and penetrating-the active material and being plated or coated with gold or platinum or made wholly of one or other of these metals, substantially as and for the purpose' specified.

3. A galvanic element whereof the support for the active material is constructed of a corrugated and perforated plate of base metal oxidizabletor nearly iuoxidizable) material,

the portions plated with gold or platinum alone making conductive contact with the active material of theeleme'nt, substantially as herein specified, and shown in the drawings.

4. In a voltaic battery, the terminal or contact-piececonsisting of a conductor of base metal wholly embedded in substantially in- IIO oxidizable material with the exception of its Y end and having gold or platinum applied toit at numerous points, so as to put the embedded conductor into electric connection with a large surface of theelement, as specified.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 9th day of April, 1886.

' THOMAS JOHN JONES. Witnesses:

B. E. KNIGHT, Y A 3 Oha'rteis Road, Fiusbu-ry Park, London.

J. E. S.' BR'owNE, 23 Fleming Road, London, S. E. 

